Archives for April 2015

In the corner of the crowded bar, Bass took a deep breath and pushed his way to the stage. On the surface, this was an ordinary event—a midweek open mic night at the Peppermint Lounge, an upscale bar a few miles west of New York City. The audience was an eclectic mix—bankers and artists, businessmen and wanderers. They were here for a few drinks and a few laughs—no one was looking for the next Jimi Hendrix.

To Bass, however, this was much more than a one-song show for a few dozen strangers. This was his proving ground. Either he had what it took to make it as a professional singer or he didn’t. “I figured that a crowd like that, once they had a lot of alcohol, would be brutally honest. The experiment was to get up and see if I could win over the crowd with something they wanted to hear, and then win them over with a gospel song.” Gospel music, after all, was Bass’s true passion.

Bass got up, sang his song, and left the club. He lived over the river in New Jersey and had to be at work early the next morning. “When I went back to the bar the next week, the owners said they had been looking for me because I had won the open mic night, and they needed to give me my prize. After that, I decided I was ready to find a [singing] group.”

When Eric Kang was in middle school, his music teacher told him that if he could imagine himself doing anything besides music, he should do that. Kang took the advice and entered Williams prepared to become a doctor. After helping direct the music for a play his freshman year, however, Kang’s love of music started to take over. His schedule went from one music class to two to three. “As I proceeded through college, I realized that music was becoming the only thing I wanted to do.”

When graduation rolled around, Kang abandoned his medical school aspirations and went to New York to try and make it as a musician. Five years later, he is hard at work on a number of fronts—directing shows, performing, teaching, and taking on a handful of odd jobs to help pay the bills. “I’m very blessed to be doing what I’m doing—I feel that way almost every day.”

I caught up with Kang in Midtown Manhattan to hear about his journey and learn about the ups and downs of life as a professional musician.